This collection of activities is based on a weekly series of space science mathematics problems distributed during the 2012-2013 school year. They were intended for students looking for additional challenges in the math and physical science...(View More) curriculum in grades 5 through 12. The problems were created to be authentic glimpses of modern science and engineering issues, often involving actual research data. The problems were designed to be one-pagers with a Teacher’s Guide and Answer Key as a second page.(View Less)

This textbook chapter presents a real case study involving the the logging of an old stand forest from three perspectives, that of the environmentalists, the wood products industry, and a politician. An associated writing activity engages students...(View More) in reviewing the different viewpoints, and writing a "letter to the editor" for or against the logging of old growth forest. This is chapter 3 in the unit, A New World View, which introduces global systems science, emphasizing the concepts of environmental diversity, Earth as a system, and sustainability. The resource includes a textbook chapter, integrated hands-on and inquiry activities, links to current news articles, and a suite of pre- and post-unit assessments. A teacher's guide supports classroom use. The resource is part of Global Systems Science (GSS), an interdisciplinary course for high school students that emphasizes how scientists from a wide variety of fields work together to understand significant problems of global impact.(View Less)

This book contains 24 illustrated math problem sets based on a weekly series of space science problems. Each set of problems is contained on one page. The problems were created to be authentic glimpses of modern science and engineering issues, often...(View More) involving actual research data. Learners will use mathematics to explore problems that include basic scales and proportions, fractions, scientific notation, algebra, and geometry.(View Less)

This is an lesson about spectrographs. Learners will build and decorate their own spectrographs using simple materials and holographic diffraction gratings. After building the spectrographs, they observe the spectra of different light sources....(View More) Requires advance preparation to spray-paint the inside of the containers black the day before construction. The activity is part of Project Spectra, a science and engineering program for middle-high school students, focusing on how light is used to explore the Solar System.(View Less)

In this lesson plan students use temperature data to look at the measures of central tendency. By using mean, median, and mode, students will gain a better understanding about weather patterns from several locales throughout Virginia.

This is an activity about depicting the relative strength of magnetic fields using field line density. Learners will use the magnetic field line drawing of six magnetic poles created in a previous activity and identify the areas of strong, weak, and...(View More) medium magnetic intensity using the density of magnetic field lines. This is the fifth activity in the Magnetic Math booklet; this booklet can be found on the Space Math@NASA website. How to Draw Magnetic Fields - II in the Magnetic Math booklet must be completed prior to this activity.(View Less)

This is an activity about depicting magnetic fields. Learners will observe two provided drawings of magnetic field line patterns for bar magnets in simple orientations of like and unlike polarities and carefully draw the field lines for both...(View More) orientations. This is the third activity in the Magnetic Math booklet; this booklet can be found on the Space Math@NASA website.(View Less)

This is an activity about depicting magnetic polarity. Learners will observe several provided drawings of magnetic field line patterns for bar magnets in simple orientations of like and unlike polarities and carefully draw the field lines and depict...(View More) the polarities for several orientations, including an arrangement of six magnetic poles. This is the fourth activity in the Magnetic Math booklet; this booklet can be found on the Space Math@NASA website.(View Less)

This is an activity about coronal mass ejections. Learners will calculate the velocity and acceleration of a coronal mass ejection, or CME, based on its position in a series of images from the Large-Angle Spectrometric Coronograph (LASCO) instrument...(View More) on NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft. This is Activity 2 of a larger resource, Exploring the Sun. The NASA spacecraft missions represented by this material include SOHO, TRACE, STEREO, Hinode, and SDO.(View Less)

In this problem set, students calculate precisely how much carbon dioxide is in a gallon of gasoline. A student worksheet provides step-by-step instructions as students calculate the production of carbon dioxide. The investigation is supported the...(View More) textbook "Climate Change," part of "Global System Science," an interdisciplinary course for high school students that emphasizes how scientists from a wide variety of fields work together to understand significant problems of global impact.(View Less)